


how does her garden grow

by Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)



Category: The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Magic, Post-Canon, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 04:53:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16401674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/pseuds/Jedi%20Buttercup
Summary: Chloe wasn't here to be Kaulder's handler; she was here to be his partner, and that meant-- just like with her plants-- encouraging growth.





	how does her garden grow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).



> I love this movie and its found family aspects and worldbuilding as well. Hope you enjoy this post-movie glimpse!

Chloe walked slowly along the hanging curtain of greenery, trailing her fingers over the herbs in her newly constructed pocket garden. Some of them were survivors from her old apartment, carefully transferred in their tiny white ceramic pots; a few were donations from Miranda to help replace what she'd lost with the bar. All of them were thriving, putting out fresh leaves and extra-potent blooms at a rate she'd never seen before outside of her grandmother's carefully tended beds. 

"Huh," she said thoughtfully, glancing toward the brooding figure seated at a desk on the far side of the spacious room. "I _thought_ that might happen."

Kaulder looked up from the antique watch he was carefully piecing back together-- apparently, that was what his current ID said he did for a living, and he was actually pretty good at it-- and furrowed his brow. "Something wrong with the setup?"

"No; kind of the opposite, actually," she replied, a wry smile curling at the corners of her mouth. 

"You sure? It's not too late to take that five thousand in cash, you know," he replied, teeth flashing in the bright light as he smirked back. "Wouldn't mind having the space to myself again."

Considering the cost of rent in the city, especially for an area so large and well-lighted, she rather thought she'd come out ahead of that number on just the room alone. The magical environment was something else again, a priceless bonus she'd have a hard time sourcing anywhere else, even if she _could_ find another place that would fit her pocketbook. Miranda would definitely be jealous... or would have been if Chloe hadn't left room for another row of plants, just in case. It would make a good sorry-you-got-cursed-by-Belial, glad-you're-better present, now that Chloe was sure her guess had been correct.

"I'm sure. Besides, it was _fifty_ thousand, and you know it," she reminded him, rolling her eyes.

For a man with more than eight hundred years of adventures behind him, Kaulder had a remarkably young sense of humor; it often made her feel like she was dealing with a brother her own age who just so happened to be a sports star or something, rather than an immortal warrior who'd been killing her kind since long before her ancestors were born. She knew that was probably partly intentional, but she didn't doubt it was also genuine, one among many facets of a remarkably resilient soul. That immediacy of spirit, for lack of a better term, had made him easy to be friends with, despite everything.

It also made him more than a little blind to things he'd never had good reason to question-- another thing that made him easy to be friends with, actually. Eight hundred years, and the Last Witch Hunter had never once looked into the true source of his immortality; was it really a surprise he'd never looked into other possible side-effects of his encounter with the Witch Queen, either? The Dolans had been no help in that regard, too concerned with keeping their own secrets down the generations, and whatever acquaintances he'd made among witchkind in the past had probably had their own reasons for not looking too closely, either. 

Well: that just left more room for her, didn't it? Chloe wasn't just any witch, and no matter what Dolan 36 said, she wasn't going to give up her name to be Dolan 38 either. She wasn't here to be his handler; she was here to be his partner, and that meant-- just like with her plants-- encouraging growth.

"So if it's not something wrong...." he said leadingly, more curious now after her feint at dodging the question.

Chloe plucked a sprig from a thriving vervain plant and twirled it between her fingers. "The first time we met, you said you were human. And before everything that happened-- Dolan said you thought your immortality was a curse. Now that you know it's not, that you're actually carrying the Witch Queen's immortality _for_ her... did you ever wonder whether you're carrying the rest of her magic, too?"

Kaulder's eyes widened at the question; she saw him glance toward the vault behind the desk marked with the sign of the Axe and Cross, then toward the sprig of Hera's tears in her hand, and then over to the rows of Dolan 36's journals brought over from the mission.

By the time he met her gaze again, she could see the answer settling on him, just like it had her... not that he let it throw him for long. "So what you're saying is... I should have charged more for rent?"

"Too late now. Though if you'd like to bargain for a little magical training thrown in...." He could use the mental defenses; and it would help Miranda get over her fear of him, too. If Chloe was going to be part of Kaulder's life long-term, there would undoubtedly be more crossing paths in the future, and Miranda was far better at charm and talisman construction than she was.

"You really think _I_ could work magic?" he said more solemnly. "Wouldn't someone have noticed by now?"

"I think you've been around it for so long, triggering runes and carving candles and defusing active enchantments, that you're desensitized to the signs," she shrugged. "Do you really think if it was that easy to work with magic that Dolan 37 would have been so desperate? Or that you'd be the _only_ person in the Axe and Cross qualified to guard artifacts, all these years? Even if all you can do is _hold_ it, though, I think it's still worth asking the question."

Kaulder looked back at the plants again, and chuckled. "With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row, huh?"

"Of course, you realize that would make you Mary, Quite Contrary in this case," Chloe teased.

"Now that _does_ sound like me," he replied, and turned back to his desk with a renewed smile.


End file.
